Don’t Underestimate the Power of YouTube

TNW covers the top ten YouTube Videos for 2010 very well. The two that interested me are

“The Bed Intruder Song” (#1) — revenue from this video eventually made enough money for Antoine Dodson to buy a new house for his family.

And my personal favorite is “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (#5) which I understand helped increase sales of Old Spice products by 107%!

Mia Quagliarello, YouTube Community Manager had this to say about the impact of YouTube:

The most-watched YouTube videos of 2010 reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year. YouTube has become the world’s town square – a place where culture is created and shared. It’s a sign of YouTube’s growing importance as a platform for content creation that six of the top 10 most-watched videos globally were made-for-YouTube originals.” (italics mine)

Here is the Number 1 YouTube for 2010: Auto-Tune the News: BED INTRUDER SONG!!!, 52,517,716 Views as of 12/18/10:

This video was produced by YouTube partner Auto-Tune the News. Inspired by a local news segment, this song featured an ‘auto-tuned’ version of Alabama man Antoine Dodson, which entered the music charts, and generated substantial revenue for Dodson and his producers.

Sex Sells

Important in my list because it’s been reported that these sexy guy videos helped Old Spice up its sales by 107%. And you have to admit, even though the stuff he does is silly, he’s a sexy guy. 25,699,279 Views as of 12/18/10.

What are you going to YouTube?

If you have a brand, I hope you have a YouTube Channel – There are dozens of ways to promote your YouTube, look for a blurb on that specifically, in the near future.

And you may not be aware that since Google bought YouTube, they give heavy value in search results to sites that host YouTube videos as a way to promote their own brand.

Shameless Self Promotion

Yeah, baby, shameless self promotion isn’t just for you and me . . . Google does it with YouTube, Facebook does it with “Places” . . . after all, this is the internet. Exploitation of cyber resources at its very best (and worst). But, you can leverage Google’s desire to promote YouTube to get your site a higher ranking because you have YouTube Videos. You do, don’t you?

Looking for buzz, and don’t have any ideas how to make it happen for your favorite project?

The Ontario Science Center, promoting a new exhibit called “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns, & Mermaids,” made a viral video hoax that is quite good from concept to execution. They have it listed on their website as “Strange Encounters: Video Evidence or Hoax?”

According to Jeremy Scott in ReelSEO, the online marketer’s guide:

Creating a video that causes the viewer to wonder if what they’ve seen is real or fake is one of the most reliable paths to viral success. And though most everyone knew this one was a hoax from the beginning, the museum is still playing along and acting coy—they’ve issued warnings about what to do if you spot a unicorn in the wild—don’t use sudden movements or flash photography! And they have also voiced concerns about the safety of unicorns and humans should the creatures get too close to civilization and become frightened. Hilarious.

So, how does one generate true buzz?

When I found it, there had been more than 150,000 views on YouTube. He’s right: This little vid should be considered a great success.

Lesson to be learned? When you’re looking for buzz, you may be looking in all the wrong places! Or at least thinking in all the wrong places. I read somewhere (and forgive me, whoever said this first)

No more thinking outside the box. There is NO box.

Very Zen. And it should be rule number one when you’re working on your next buzz campaign.

Pay no attention to the people in the street
Crying out for accountability
Make a joke of what we believe
Say we don’t matter ’cause you disagree
Pretend you’re kings, sit on your throne
Look down your nose at the peasants below
I’ve got some news, we’re taking names
We’re waiting now for the judgment day

I am America, one voice, united we stand
I am America, one hope to heal our land
There is still work that must be done
I will not rest until we’ve won, I am America

You preach your tolerance, but lecture me
Is there no end to your own hypocrisy
Your god is power, you have no shame
Your only interest is political gain
You hide your eyes and refuse to listen
You play your games and abuse the system
You stuff your pockets while Rome is burning
I’ve got a feeling that the tide is turning

I am America, one voice, united we stand
I am America, one hope to heal our land
I will not give up on this fight
I will not fade into the light, I am America

You stuff your pockets while Rome is burning
I’ve got a feeling that the tide is turning

I am America, one voice, united we stand
I am America, one hope to heal our land
I am America, one voice, united we stand
I am America, one hope to heal our land

I will not give up on this fight
I will not fade into the night, I am America

Lady GaGa and Tom Peters in the same post? It seems like the perfect match to me.

I’ve just finished Tom Peter’s book, “Brand You” and if anyone has taken his advice and made it her mantra, it would be Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster.

Brand You, was originally published in 1999, and I’ll admit I may be behind in my reading. But it is fresh and new to me, and still topical. After all, aren’t each of us working to promote ourselves at whatever we do, or whatever we want to do?

If you know of Lady GaGa, you know she has created a persona that almost everyone recognizes, whether they care for her or not.

[pullquote]I’ve just discovered GaGa, too, in my usual, sideways, circuitous route . . . I’ve seen photos of her outrageous costumes and heard of her latex clothes, which seem to be talked about a LOT more than her music. I don’t have a taste for latex, and the red veil sort of put me off, so I didn’t pursue intimate knowledge of l’gaga.

Looking for something to watch on hulu, since I’ve seen everything netflix has to offer, I watched an episode of Glee and it happened to showcase the fame monster. I immediately hit YouTube, and fell in love with this woman.

I like the songs, I like the video, I love the name, The Fame Monster.